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Featured Poet: Joel McKerrow

Last spring we launched a series with poets whose work we love and want to feature and will continue it moving forward. Our next poet is Joel McKerrow whose work is inspired by liminal spaces.  You can watch Joel’s poem videos and read more about the connections he makes between poetry and the sacred. Joel McKerrow- WIND (with Spike Mason). from Joel McKerrow on Vimeo. Themes of His Work I have just finished working on a book, a creative non-fiction all about the spiritual journey. Its called WOVEN: A Spirituality for the Dissatisfied and is being published in November. So a

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August 28, 2019

Monk in the World Suggestions for Practice (Silence and Solitude) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. Principle One: I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation. Just for today claim a window of time – even ten minutes is enough to begin – and rest into an

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August 25, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Anne Knorr

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Knorr’s reflection,”Ebb Tides.” Walking along the rocky shoreline during ebb tide, an eighty-five year old man named Billy Proctor can often be seen in tall black rubber boots looking for treasures washed ashore.  It is a ritual he has observed since childhood and over the years he has collected a myriad of hidden jewels; large aqua-marine glass buoys, chiseled arrow heads, ancient metal jewelry from the “original people” as he calls them, colorful bottles of all

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August 21, 2019

Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World Participant Poems: Carol Everson

Last spring a sweet gathering of creative souls joined with us for our retreat Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World in Chartres, France. We had a wonderful group of participants and I am delighted to share some of their poems. Pour a cup of tea and savor for a while. From Carol Everson Ode to Nurses’ Aides Here’s to the handler of bedpans and colostomy bags whose fingernails grow fertilized by feces. To the bather and dresser and undresser and put-to-bedder who wishes sweet dreams to the departing. To the listener to stories told a thousand times, who

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August 19, 2019

Monk in the World Guided Meditation by Christine (Silence and Solitude) + AUDIO ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dear pilgrims, monks, and artists, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. This week we pray Lectio Divina with a text from Psalms. You can listen an audio recording of the practice below. We will be praying with this text: Be still and know that I am God – Psalm 46:10   First Movement – Lectio: Settling & Shimmering For now, find a comfortable

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August 17, 2019

Featured Poet: Marjorie Maddox

Last spring we launched a series with poets whose work we love and want to feature and will continue it moving forward. Our next poet is Marjorie Maddox, whose work focuses on the intersection of body and spirit.  You can hear Marjorie reading her poem “Prayer” below and read more about the connections she makes between poetry and the sacred. And the Topic for Today Is Environmentalism . . . . Teaching “God’s Grandeur” More politically correct than divine grandeur, it too flames out in this small Pennsylvania town where fracking hijacks the headlines. Good reason and good enough to bring

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August 14, 2019

Monk in the World Reflection by Christine (Silence and Solitude) + AUDIO ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dear pilgrims, monks, artists, Please note: This reflection was written when we lived in Seattle and had a dog named Winter. We currently live in Galway, Ireland with our dog Sourney. If you’d prefer to listen to Christine on silence here is the audio version.   Being a monk in the world means, for me, choosing to live contemplatively in resistance to the demand for speed, to live mindfully and with intention instead of rushing through life, to savor my experience rather than consume it, and to remember that my self-worth is not defined by how much I do or achieve,

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August 10, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Nicole Walters

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Nicole Walters’ reflection “The Rhythms of the Dawn.” The quiet of the morning is broken by the alarm that starts off on the periphery of a dream and shifts to a nagging pull into reality. I stumble out of bed, untangling the little limbs wrapped around my body.  In the dark I can’t decipher which child is to my right and who is to my left but I don’t want to wake either one. My husband lies across

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August 7, 2019

Reflection by John (Silence and Solitude) ~ A Note from Your Online Prior

Dear pilgrims, monks, and artists, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. Mark 6:31-33 He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going

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August 4, 2019

Featured Poet: Mark Burrows

Last spring we launched a series with poets whose work we love and want to feature and will continue it moving forward. Our next poet is Mark Burrows, whose work is deeply inspired by the idea of home and stability of place.  You can hear Mark reading his poem “I Still Marvel” below and read more about the connections he makes between poetry and the sacred. I STILL MARVEL Each spring I wait for the crocuses to come, eager to greet their purple bursts as they rise from the soggy earth and stubborn patches of late-lingering snow, and while I know

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July 31, 2019